I loved the idea, just not the execution, sadly. It felt very repetitive, and I got pretty disinterested quickly.

To be honest I DNFed this. It was not as intriguing to me as I had thought when I decided to give it a try. I found myself bored and not invested in this collection of stories. I did love the cover of this book, which might have been one of the reasons I chose to give it a try.

This was a real hodgepodge of essays about fear, childhood, relationships, general life, and surprisingly a bit of reincarnation. I enjoyed the backdrop of Nebraska, a state I barely am aware of, in many of the essays. I really liked the heart and honesty of her stories even when they were difficult to tell like the ones about her parents.

Jody Keisner knows that women everywhere feel unsafe in ways that men do not and cannot fully understand. The way women fear dark streets and parking lots and bumps in the night is visceral. If you are a woman, Under My Bed and Other Essays will assure you that you are not alone. If you are a man, you will have your consciousness raised.

I received a drc from the publisher via Netgalley.

Explored in this engrossing essay collection are issues like the climate crisis, chronic sickness, and intimate partner violence. Although the themes are significant, the book doesn't become overly heavy because it is well-paced and the author occasionally injects some required humor so that the reader gets a little uplift.

The language is exquisite, and the author's descriptions come to life on the page. For example, in her essay on fire, you can almost feel the heat, intensity, and effort blazing on the page. In addition, the author's flashbacks to her adolescence and bygone days strike a chord with many readers because they are so relatable. I could definitely relate to the concepts of memories, phobias, and the importance that people place on geographic locations. I had no idea essays could be so beautiful.

Thoughtful, intimate, often heart-wrenching explorations of motherhood and the things we inherit that transcend genetics. If content warnings were more a thing this book would probably have one. There's so much here that dives deep into the things that trouble us as women as parents as people who exist in a world where nothing is every truly safe.

As someone with an interest in popular culture the essays considering the influence of horror films on ideas of violence and reality were particularly interesting. Adults who were adopted would also find much to explore.

This essay collection provides a nuanced look at fear, of the many, many things that scare us (especially the women "us"), the things that go bump in the night, and careen out of control during the daylight. Fears such as the boogeyman hiding under the bed, a father's escalating anger and aggression, fear of belonging, fears that motherhood brings. Jody Keisner writes with precision, lyricism, shining a light in the dark places where fear resides. So much is relatable on these pages - every page is both discovery and excavation back to the places where your own fear hides.

I love essay collections, and they are having a lovely renaissance in the past few years, especially collections by women. This book winds together so many essential and beautiful themes via gorgeous prose..

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
The author talks about a lot of relatable fears and stressful situations. From fear of the dark to battling Rheumatoid Arthritis, there's a lot going on in this book. It was written in essay form which sometimes doesn't work for me. Overall, a pretty good book though.

Under My Bed and Other Essays
by Jody Keisner

Thank you to NetGalley, University of Nebraska Press, and Jody Keisner for the e-ARC. I did want to love it.BUT, it seems to be like groundhog day, repeating everything far too often, I didn't really wish it had less and more.

Thank you to NetGalley, University of Nebraska Press and Jody Keisner for the e-ARC! Under My Bed is a memoir in essays detailing Keisner’s experiences with childhood trauma, motherhood, marriage, chronic illness, adoption (as a child and a parent), rebuilding relationships with abusive parents and fearing what women are constantly facing in the world. Keisner’s personal accounts and how she presents them gave me a similar vibe to Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking although the topics at hand are very different but still dark. I would like to read more from her in the future!

Thank you to Net Galley for giving me a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I think when I read the description of book I liked the idea of it, but the more I read it I didn’t like it. The stories felt repeated and I don’t really feel a solution was made as to the reasoning behind her fear. I think most women have a fear of men and the things they may do, but for some reason the stories didn’t seem to be a actual cause. It feels more likely that just being a female would be the true cause. Overall, the idea was good but I feel like it could have been fleshed out more. I however am not disappointed that I read it.

A profoundly touching collection of essays centered around womanhood and all the nuances it comes with. Though the author and I had a number of differences (she is older, a mother, a college professor while I am young, single, and a college student), her words resonated with me on a deeper level.

I feel as though almost every woman, every marginalized person can relate to her paralyzing fears, especially those detailed in her last essay. Like Keisner, I care deeply about missing women, and it is because of that that I rarely follow their cases.

All of these essays were a joy to read. Keisner has crafted a marvelous collection that speaks to a variety of people.

I've been sitting on this one for a few days and I still come to the same conclusion, I can't see what the purpose was in this book. It seemed like the stories were repeated or the various reasons were repeated over and over. Even the descriptions of the houses her parents lived in, etc. In the end, I personally didn't feel anything was explained, it seemed like a description of what we all hear, see, read, etc.

These essays touch on the vulnerability of women and our deepest fears. Jody Keisner writes insightfully about topics close to the bone, about womens' literal and metaphorical fears of the dark, the horror of serial killers, and the impact of domestic violence and childhood trauma. Highly recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!